We left the level 25 safe room and began to make our way to the stairway. On the way, I had seen the orichalcum golem, but the girls prevented me from chasing after it. No, it was best this way. We couldn’t afford to spend all day looking for orichalcum. We needed to progress on to the 26th floor. Since we had a good deal of the 25th floor mapped out from chasing the boss all day, it was pretty easy to get to the exit and leave.

I frowned as we ended up on the 26th floor. This was because I didn’t see any bad guys. At my current level, Sense Life could go quite a distance, and I could usually always see a few red blips on my map at any given time. However, since reaching level 26th, I hadn’t seen a thing. Sense Life even worked on hidden creatures that couldn’t be seen by the normal eye, so this wasn’t simply the case of a monster hiding.

“I don’t see anyone on this level?” I murmured. “Is there any information on the 26th level?”

The girls all shook their heads and Lydia spoke up. “Raissa said that anyone who made it this far refused to give out any information.”

Although this seemed selfish on the surface, and perhaps for some Dungeon Divers, it was, the vast majority withheld information after a certain point to dissuade people from risking their lives by going into a truly dangerous place.

“There are also no traps. A fair amount of treasure though.”

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At first, my assumption was that this was some kind of mimic level, but after looting some treasure chests and not encountering a single hidden mob, a frown began to grow on my face. As we moved deeper into this level of the dungeon, that frown only deepened. There were many twists and turns. It was almost too easy to become lost.

“This must be one of those labyrinth levels,” Miki spoke up.

“Labyrinth levels?”

“The deeper you go…” Miki explained. “The more themed levels become. In the great dungeons, they say that some levels are actually entire ecosystems, complete worlds, and biomes onto themselves. They are completely different than with small dungeons. However, in Aberis, few have ever made it deep enough to encounter one.”

“What do you mean by a complete world?”

“I mean cities, indigenous people, even kingdoms,” Miki explained excitedly and then blushed. “I mean, that’s just a rumor I was told. Some say that each level connects to another world, and through dungeons, you can actually go to another world.”

“Really?” My eyes brightened.

Was that where the king was? Was he trapped in a dungeon level that equates an entire world? It would certainly make more sense. Wait… was there a dungeon that connected with my own world?

Miki noticed my eyes and immediately shook her head. “Master, this kind of dungeon level wouldn’t appear until likely after 50. No one in Aberis has seen one, although maybe the Imperial Cloud Meadow and Shie Gescar divers have. However, before you see those, you do see increasingly more complex levels, like this one, a labyrinth.”

“So, this level is… a giant maze?”

“The goal is for you to get lost and not keep track. They use the treasure to distract you, but the goal isn’t for you to be killed by a mob. It’s simple to become lost and never find your way out.” Miki explained.

I’ve said it before, but dungeons can be very dangerous.